The shorter Demon Eye Cloak Man replied, "Lan, there's no mistake, they must have gone in." He stomped the ground with his foot, "They went in underground. There's evidence of Earth Escape Technique use here, matching previous tunnel excavation actions within the mountain."

The Smiling Girl immediately reached out and cast a spell to investigate the underground. After confirming, she looked towards the Divine Mountain with an exceptionally serious expression, "How is this possible? There's only one entrance. The Phoenix Clan left this Ancient Array because of its strong defenses, avoiding others' coveting. How could someone sneak in ignoring the protection?"

The responding Cloak Man said, "It's a bit strange. We almost thought we were mistaken."

The Smiling Girl turned sternly and walked away, then began transmitting sound over distance.

Not long after, a void rift appeared before her, and the Red-clothed Woman emerged.

Seeing this, the two Cloak Men quickly approached, bowing and clasping their fists, "Madam."

The Red-clothed Woman walked between them until she bumped into an invisible barrier, stopped, and pressed her finger against the invisible resilient wall, asking the same question as before, "Are you sure they broke through the 'Beidou Refusal Array'?"

Still the shorter Cloak Man stepped forward to reply, "Madam, there's no mistake. The target left traces from Dazhi City, met with another, and headed straight here without any branch indications. The traces went underground in front and should be visible excavating underground." He pointed ahead, "Then traces emerged from under the hill before the array, then turned forward. Where they went beyond that is unclear; the distance makes it hard to see."

The Red-clothed Woman didn't doubt their vision but was still somewhat puzzled, "The 'Beidou Refusal Array' utilizes the immense Power of Stars, currently no one in the Cultivation World can break its defense without using the Array Gate. How did they do it?"

The shorter Cloak Man said, "That is unknown. If there's a way in, it must have fooled the array into thinking they're not a Spiritual Body."

The Red-clothed Woman murmured, "Any way to conceal it?"

The shorter Cloak Man, "I am not bright and truly do not know."

The Red-clothed Woman stared at the Divine Mountain in silence for a while, then suddenly smiled, "I thought it was just a rogue trickster, but it's getting more and more interesting."

The Smiling Girl went aside and asked, "Madam, should we continue tracking? If we pursue further, we'll need to enter the array and follow the traces. It must be fast; if delayed, the traces will disperse, making it difficult to find their trail."

The Red-clothed Woman said, "Track them, leave someone to monitor."

"Yes," the Smiling Girl complied and directly assigned the taller Cloak Man to remain hidden here.

Soon, outside the main gate of the Divine Mountain's archway, the Smiling Girl appeared with two rows of people cloaked in black. Including herself, there were nine in total.

At night, the opening of the Divine Mountain's main gate was secondary. Goddess Feng Qingping, in urgency, personally led her people to greet them, presenting herself respectfully as the Smiling Girl walked in, "I didn't know Lan was coming personally. Feng Qingping has failed in welcoming you from afar."

Besides respect, there was also a trembling fear, unclear why the people close to the Demon Queen suddenly arrived, with no prior notice from the Phoenix Clan.

And it was unknown if it had any relation to involvement in releasing Bai Qiru from Dazhi City.

Lan's smile remained unchanged, but she ignored her, turning back, "You go do your investigations."

Then, from the eight followers who entered with her, six immediately turned around and flew away.

Feng Qingping was puzzled, tried to ask, "Dare I ask, Lan, what is this about?"

Lan smiled farewell with a glance and said nothing, walking straight ahead.

No answer was the answer; coming to your place for what they wish without explaining or accounting for anything—that's dominance.

Feng Qingping wisely kept silent, quietly accompanied her.

Behind, the North Mountain Order Master Huang Ye, and his subordinate Jiang You'er exchanged a glance, eyes filled with unease.

They also knew the Demon Queen's involvement in Dazhi City, and aware Mo Shiliu fought someone over there. Worried that their visit might be investigating the Demon Path.

Entering the Divine Mountain, the six Cloak Men swiftly flew and soon reached the protective array's outer target entry point.

With red eyes, once again employing Demon Eye, the Cloak Men quickly pursued the continuing target traces.

Under one swinging cloak occasionally revealing red clothing, it was the Red-clothed Woman herself who followed out of curiosity to explore firsthand.

The group quickly followed the traces to the area around the main peak of the Divine Mountain.

Meanwhile, sneaky Shi Chun was on the other side of the mountain.

After retracting another Reversing Soul Tree, he called his companions to a halt, "Alright, that's enough."

Showing the small jar with a little pale yellow paste to Wu Jinliang, "We don't know what this stuff is. We need to keep some samples for Zhu Xiangxin. She's been refining pills long-term; see if she can help figure out what this is."

Wu Jinliang naturally understood the implication. Without it, there's no way to get more Reversing Soul Trees. In the future, communicating with the Netherworld might require a large amount of Death Refusing Incense. He nodded and looked towards the mountain top, asking softly, "Chun Tian, how many Reversing Soul Trees remain?"

Shi Chun said, "Can't see the situation above, but plenty, at least over a thousand remaining. The higher we go, the bigger they seem."

Wu Jinliang stroked his chin and muttered, "With all the fuss tonight, we've nearly uprooted two hundred trees. Are we handing them all over to Granny Qi?"

Shi Chun thought for a moment, "Can't give them all in one go. Let's give a hundred first, and once that's done, we can hand over the next batch."

Wu Jinliang responded, "That's still quite a lot. Fixing up a hundred trees will take quite some time."

It's impossible to hand over the freshly uprooted trees to Granny Qi without fixing them first. Even a fool would notice they're freshly pulled, which would surely cause trouble.

Shi Chun waved his hand, signaling to move out.

The two of them secretly descended the mountain. Initially, they wanted to return the same way, but they didn't want traces of Earth Escape Technique all around the array, as that would be easily noticed.

However, reality often forces one to change plans.

Before reaching the edge of the array's protection, Shi Chun suddenly extended his arm to stop Wu Jinliang and quickly crouched down with him.

Alerted, Wu Jinliang whispered, "What's wrong?"

Shi Chun's expression showed uncertainty, "Damn it, there's someone lying at the spot where we came in. No mistake, there's someone there."

Wu Jinliang was startled, "What the hell, is it a coincidence or something else?"

Shi Chun retorted irritably, "In such a vast region of the Divine Mountain, is it possible to have such a coincidence?"

Wu Jinliang took a deep breath, "Can't be. Xiao Sheng was keeping watch mid-way to prevent anyone from tracking us, and he didn't notice anyone following. Could it be someone followed later? The wind up there is so strong, by then the scent would have scattered. Trackable..."

At this point, the two exchanged a glance.

Wu Jinliang then swore, "Damn it, could it be the Demon Eye is on us again? If so, it'll be troublesome in the future unless we hide forever."

Shi Chun pondered, "If it's the Demon Path, there are people on the mountain who can respond. It's not safe here for long, we need to hurry and leave. I'm not sure if my cultivation technique can sever their tracking clues. Let's try. Plan a different route, reach out to Xiao Sheng, have him keep watch around the new route. If someone is found tracking, then my cultivation technique is useless."

"Alright." Wu Jinliang immediately took out the mother-child talisman to do as instructed.

Shi Chun grabbed his arm, performed magic to lift them, the Cloud Stepping Boots came into play again. Knowing there are people on the mountain who could respond, they immediately exercised extreme caution, not even leaving a footprint.

Meanwhile, the blue Qi emitted by the Bath Demon Skill enveloped both, allowing them to sneak silently across the void.

After getting far away, they finally used Earth Escape Technique to leave.

On the main peak of the Divine Mountain, a person with Demon Eye under a cloak knelt down, brushed the ground, and looked up at the Red-clothed Woman beside him, "Same traces as before, the soil here has also been loosened and covered up, yet no anomalies were found. Not sure what it means."

Red-clothed Woman felt puzzled too, furrowed her brows in thought, then said, "Enough, there's no need to check each pit, leave markers on the ones found, let others examine them. You should just track their whereabouts, once you find them, keep an eye and you'll naturally get answers."

"Yes." Demon Eye Cloak Man accepted the order, stood up, and continued tracking.

Later, as Red-clothed Woman said, whenever he found a site where the target stayed and dug, he'd leave a marker for others to inspect, while he continued roaming the main peak of Divine Mountain with Red-clothed Woman.

Red-clothed Woman found herself circling around and was a bit perplexed.

After much circling, they finally descended the mountain.

Almost retracing their steps, despite having several diverted paths, they also spotted many intersecting trails they hadn't seen before. Demon Eye Cloak Man immediately realized something, reported, "The target has likely descended the mountain, probably not long ago."

However, upon almost reaching the edge of the array's protection, he halted again.

Seeing him look everywhere and circle for quite a while without progress, the Red-clothed Woman finally couldn't resist asking, "What's going on?"

Demon Eye Cloak Man hesitantly replied, "Seems like, seems like, Your Majesty, the trail seems to end here, seems to vanish into thin air, no traces underground or flying away. I'm incompetent, don't know where the target went." He bowed to apologize.

Red-clothed Woman coldly said, "I don't need excuses. Find the cause, find the solution, otherwise, what's your use?"

Imposing without anger.

Her personally intervening led to such a result; how could she accept it?

Demon Eye Cloak Man broke into a sweat, quickly organized his thoughts, after a brief pondering, he replied, "Your Majesty, there are only two possibilities: One is the target has also cultivated Demon Skill, knows how to shield, the other is someone who knows shielding has helped them escape. Other than these, I honestly can't think of other possibilities. Within this 'Beidou Refusal Array', no one is capable of shattering the void to leave."

Red-clothed Woman lifted her hat slightly revealing her face, her eyes flickered as she pondered, she said, "The target was once tracked by Demon Eye from the Demon Path and almost died, never used shielding before. You haven't seen him use it as you tracked to Divine Mountain. If he had that ability, he would have used it earlier. According to your explanation..."

She turned her head, coldly glanced around Divine Mountain, and slowly said, "This could mean there's someone from the Demon Path lurking on Divine Mountain, our arrival might have startled them. The target was either escorted away or captured by the Demon Path. How did the captors know he ascended the mountain? If indeed escorted away, to work together with the Demon Path, that's getting more intriguing."

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